The Ward
by crossroads-x3
Summary: Bella Cullen made a life-altering decision when she agreed to work at the hospital's psych ward with her father. What will happen when she finds her mate in a future-seeing human patient whose blood sings to a tracker? AU/OOC
1. Prologue: Decision

**Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own the Twilight Saga. Stephenie Meyer does. I'm just messing with a background story in her book that she didn't go into much detail with.**

**Prologue: Decision**

I had promised to keep her safe. My coven had vowed that she would remain untouchable until I decided to change her and keep her by my side forever. I wasn't ready to think about that yet. I needed _time _to think about this life altering choice, but time had evaded me.

The things that led me to this empty, abandoned ward weren't pleasant. Ever since I met her, the girl who turned my world upside down, I was fighting fate. She should have died when I first entered the room and was overcome by her mouth-watering aroma, but somehow I managed to control myself. I thought that everything would get easier once I was used to her scent, but as fate would have it, that was not so, and others would be just as tempted as me.

A whimper sounded behind me, and I turned to see my human curled into the fetal position, her eyes glazed over as she watched a future scene play out in her head. Subconsciously I wondered if her visions would be less uncomfortable if she was a vampire. The thought went as quickly as it had come, and I knelt by her, placing my ice-cold hand on her damp forehead.

"What do you see?" I asked gently, as I was supposed to do whenever she had a vision. Her hazel eyes slowly shifted back to normal, allowing me to know that she was back in the present.

"He's… he's here," she whispered hoarsely. A jolt of fear passed through me. If he was here, then I was alone in defending my angel.

_My coven was supposed to be here by now! They were supposed to help me protect my mate! _The monster inside me yelled furiously. They weren't here yet, though, and I was defenseless.

I was forced to make my decision now: let my venom poison her system, making her immortal and protecting her fully, and attempt to fight him off, or distract him while waiting for my family and hoping they get here fast enough. I had to make my final decision as a feral growl rippled through the room, and I spun around to see the dark red eyes of the thirsty hunter, as he slid into a crouch, preparing for the kill.

**A/N: So this was just a random idea that popped in my head. I haven't read any other stories that have Bella taking on the "doctor" role in Alice's human years, so I decided to do that, but make it in present times. I'd like you to know that I'm not sure what Bella's decision will be yet. She might change her, she might not. We'll see. So, this may have a different ending than Alice's original story. **

**Also, this is a prologue like Stephenie Meyer does with the whole glimpse of future occurrences thing, just so ya know.**

**Like it? Hate it? I'd like to know, so obviously reviews would be appreciated. If I get a good response I'll continue messing with this idea. **

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	2. Break

**Disclaimer: If I owned the Twilight Saga, there would've been a lot more Alice. There wasn't, so it obviously belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Hell, I don't even own my pen name. **

**Break**

I groaned as my headphones were yanked from my ears, breaking my illusion of sleep, and groaned even more when I opened my eyes to see a smiling Edward.

"Get up, Bella. It's family meeting time!" he said with mock enthusiasm, running a pale hand through his disarray of bronze hair. Emmett, the "big brother" of our family, accused Edward of having sex-hair, which was ironic, seeing as Edward is the only one hundred and nine year old virgin that I know of.

"I'll be right down, just get out of my room before I rip your head off for disturbing me," I replied with false menace. Edward rolled his eyes, but left the room immediately. It was moments like this that I appreciated my gift of being a shield. Although I was obviously joking, he didn't dare test me, seeing as he couldn't pry into my mind whenever he felt like it and wasn't one hundred percent sure if I was serious or not.

I shrugged out of the wrinkled clothes that I had worn while lying on my bed. I found that if I lay down, listened to music, and made my mind go blank, I could be in a peaceful, relaxing state that I thought of as the vampire equivalent to human sleeping. That's how I spent most of my nights, while the others were off doing _things_, and Edward was studying.

I blurred down the stairs and into the living room, where I noticed a little more than half of my family of vampires were seated. Emmett, with his massive biceps flexing with each click of his remote control, was battling against his blonde beauty of a wife, Rosalie, while playing some sort of shooting game. I wouldn't be able to specify which game, because I avoided the system at all costs. My competitive nature was too strong sometimes, which usually ignited my angry side, and that was never pleasant.

Edward was sitting at his grand piano, his fingers pressing the keys gently as he churned out Esme's favourite song. Esme was gently swaying around the room, humming, and decorating the house with fresh flower arrangements.

"Where _is _everybody?" I asked, slightly annoyed. If not everyone was here yet for our family meeting, why bother me?

"Oh, hi, sweetie," Esme said, rushing over to give me a quick hug. "Jasper and Harriet went to hunt, and they should be back any minute. Your father stepped out to make sure our treaty was still intact with our… _neighbours_."

"You mean mongrels intent on disrupting our happiness with their stench and imbecilic grudge? That sounds a lot more accurate," Rosalie mused with her trademark scowl in place. No one hated our – as Esme politely put it – neighbours more than Rosalie did.

"Be nice, Rose," Esme scolded, with just a hint of a smile. She then tilted her head to the side slightly, a smile of love and adoration taking residence on her heart-shaped face. "It seems the rest of the family has arrived."

As if on cue, the front door flew open, and in came Jasper and Harriet along with the pale light of the cloud-covered rising sun. At the end of our winding driveway, Carlisle's black Mercedes was making an appearance.

Honey-haired and battle-scarred Jasper, who was also the only empath I knew of, took a seat next to Rose on the couch. Harriet, the newest addition to the family, perched on the arm rest next to Jasper, flattening her bushy brown hair. It was quite comical to see a girl with such a small face with that much hair, which is why she usually kept it pulled back.

Harriet was one of the strangest vampires I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was a happy person, despite her past, which was filled with manipulation. Perhaps the strangest part of her, though, was her gift. Harriet was capable of mirroring the power of any vampire that she was near. Quite a few times, while Edward was trying to snoop through her head, she copied my shield, and he was unable to read her mind. Another time, she copied Edward's gift and was capable of reading minds for as long as she wanted, but only if Edward was in close proximity. Carlisle believed that whatever we were best at as a human was intensified in immortality, so she usually claimed that as a human, she was amazingly talented at mimicking people. Although it was the only theory we had, and plausible to a degree, we knew it wasn't right.

Carlisle, our father for all intents and purposes, then glided into the room, smiling warmly in the only way he could. I had never met a more kind and sincere man in all of my existence. He walked over to Esme and gently kissed her before wrapping an arm around her and turning to address us.

"As you all are fully aware of by now, a new town means a new start," he informed, receiving a chorus of groans from everyone except Esme. Carlisle chuckled before continuing, "Therefore, we have to figure out what roles we're going to take. I, of course, am going to work at Forks Hospital. I get to mix it up a bit this time, seeing as I was offered a position working in the psychiatric ward. If you will, I would appreciate you consider your options quickly."

The couples began to converse in low voices, so I went to sit next to Edward on his piano bench. He stared glumly at the floor with his arms folded across his chest, and didn't even acknowledge my presence.

Everyone hated starting over, but it was a necessary thing when you're amongst the never aging. Vampires were frozen in time, which became easy to notice if we spent a lot of time around the same humans. I usually didn't mind moving, seeing as a change in scenery was nice from time to time. This time, however, I didn't want to. I thoroughly enjoyed living in New Hampshire, but we had exceeded the amount of time we should have stayed, and had to move. Carlisle was claiming thirty three when he could barely pass as thirty, and I was claiming eighteen when I could easily pass as twenty two.

"What are you going to do?" I inquired curiously. I received a shrug. A moment passed when he asked the same question, to which I also shrugged.

There were two things that I was sure I _didn't_ want to do, though. The first was attend high school and be greeted by slobbering human boys asking me out because I was labelled "hot" and single. Being single, I was their new target, and I _really_ didn't feel like rejecting the same boy's dozens of times. The second thing I didn't want to do was pretend to be Edward's girlfriend to avoid said boys, and so he could avoid the hordes of human girls that practically threw themselves at his feet when they found out he was single. I mean, I love my brother and all, but kissing him and holding hands with him just to get the point across is one of my least favourite things to do. As far as I knew, the feeling was mutual.

Carlisle's voice brought me out of my reverie, when he went to the set of mates to see what their decision was. "Emmett and Rose, are you going to attend high school as seniors?"

Rosalie looked at Emmett, grinning mischievously, and I could see Edward roll his eyes in my peripherals. Now I knew what was coming. "We'll go to that damned place, _only if_ we get a wedding this summer," she responded. Emmett was grinning widely enough that I was worried his marble face might split. Of course, he didn't care about the ceremony. To Emmett, the only appeal a wedding had was the honeymoon that followed.

"How come I knew you were going to say that?" Carlisle asked rhetorically, heaving a sigh. "If having a mass amount of adults living in one house was inconspicuous, I wouldn't agree. However, we _do_ need to keep up appearances, and I know how horrible you are at bargaining, Rose, so if you attend high school, we will give you another wedding."

Rosalie squealed, yes, the ice princess actually _squealed_, before her husband fired off a question.

"Can we have Isle Esme for the honeymoon?" Emmett asked excitedly. Of course he would want to go to the secluded island just off the coast of Brazil that had been a gift for Esme from Carlisle. They could have some… _fun_, without disruptions.

"Absolutely not! I refuse to have my house on that island ravaged by your overactive sex drive!" Esme yelled. Everyone laughed, while Rosalie frowned, and Emmett pouted like a five-year old who was just told that Christmas was cancelled.

"Back to our previous discussion. Jasper and Harriet, what is your decision?"

Jasper and Harriet shared a meaningful look before he drawled with his thick Southern accent, "Seeing as my darlin' can't pass for anything higher than a high school student, we're going to attend Forks High, too. I'll be a senior, and Harriet's going to be a junior."

Carlisle nodded, looking relieved that he wasn't given an ultimatum this time. "So that leaves Bella and Edward. Do you know what you're going to do?"

Edward began to open his mouth, and I knew he was going to try and get out of the high school ordeal like he did the last three times, so I covered his mouth with my hand. Carlisle only allowed one at a time to escape the high school façade. "I have an idea," I replied quickly, receiving a death glare from Edward. I removed my already scarred hand before he could bite me like he had once before. Although the pain faded quickly, the venom's burn wasn't something I wanted to feel.

"And that is?"

"Well, seeing as I have already studied psychiatry, and I look old enough for the job, do you think that you could get me a nursing position in your ward? I really want a break from high school," Please say yes, I silently prayed. "I'm sure Mr. Jenks wouldn't mind writing up a few papers."

Carlisle looked hesitant. "Bella, are you sure your control is good enough to be working in a hospital?" Was he _really _going to go there?

"Are you forgetting all of the times that I've volunteered at the hospitals you have worked at?" I questioned, offended. "Are you also forgetting that next to you I have the best control _and_ the cleanest record? It seems like those memories have been misplaced, Carlisle."

"My apologies, Bella. I didn't mean to offend you. Of course I'll get you a position at the hospital, if Jasper would kindly have Mr. Jenks fill out the necessary papers?" Jasper nodded in agreement.

J. Jenks, the man behind all of our forged documents, had been dealing with Jasper for the last fifteen years. I had once dealt with him, and it had appeared that Jasper had the man nearly frightened to death.

"Last but not least, Edward, have you decided on what grade level you will attend Forks High as?"

"Carlisle, seeing as I've graduated high school the most out of everyone, I would prefer to attend the University of Washington," Edward responded, making his eyes smolder in an attempt to convince his father.

"How many times are you going to use the 'I've graduated high school the most out of everyone' line, Sexhair?" Emmett called from the couch. Edward glared at him, mostly for the nickname, I assumed.

"As much as I hate to say it, Emmett's right. You _do_ use that line quite a bit," Carlisle said, smiling. "After attending the University of Illinois, Syracuse, and Dartmouth in our last three moves, I think it's time that you visit high school again."

"Yeah, why not go and be lectured by teachers that I'm older than, and learn material that I've known for nearly a century?" Edward grumbled sarcastically, as he stood and made his way to the front door. "I'm going to hunt," he said while slamming the door. Rosalie rolled her eyes at his dramatics, while Harriet giggled.

"Meeting dismissed," Carlisle said while sighing. It was evident that he was disappointed in his son's antics.

"I'll go order the proper documents from J," Jasper declared. "Are you coming, Harriet?" Harriet nodded and followed Jasper out of the room. Carlisle went off into his study, while Esme said something about grocery shopping and left, leaving Emmett, Rosalie, and I alone in the room. Before the jokes could start, I quickly exited the room, and made my way to my room.

* * *

We had only been in our new house for a day and a half, so I spent the rest of my day unpacking. I had been helping Esme decorate the house, so I hadn't had time for myself.

The main pieces of furniture were already in place, so all I really had left to do was organize my book and CD collection. When you have vampire speed, small tasks like this only took a few minutes to finish.

As I began organizing my things, my mind wandered to the ward in which I would be working. An uneasy feeling settled into my stomach at the thought, alongside a feeling of anticipation, eagerness, and a pinch of… joy?

However, in the mix of all those emotions, the most dominant feeling at the thought of working in Forks Hospital's psychiatric ward was one that I had only felt once before now, which was from when I was human, before the occurrence that led to my transformation. I barely recognized it, but I knew what I was feeling. Foreboding.

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A/N: First off, thank you so much to those who put this story on alert, in their favourites, and those who reviewed. I wasn't expecting such a huge response for such a short prologue. It's crazy.

**Second, this chapter has a little more than 2300 words, but I intend to write longer chapters. This was just basically setting up what is to come. I was going to include a bit of Bella's backstory, but I thought that should wait for a more appropriate time.**

**Lastly, I know this wasn't a very exciting chapter, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm not going to jump into a relationship without setting it up first, you know? Anyways, feel free to review, seeing as I'd like to know what you think about the story so far, and what you think of Harriet's gift. :)**

**Happy New Year! **


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